北投亞太溫泉生活館

Beitou Asia Pacific Resort

January 30th, 2016

An abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou — The next building over looks more like a hotel.

On the last day of my round-the-island bicycle tour of Taiwan I undertook a brief excursion to the hot springs area of Beitou. I had expected the previous night to be my last on the road but a series of flat tires kept me from finishing my journey. With time to spare the following day I took a meandering route back to Taipei and, as luck would have it, also chanced upon one more ruin to explore. Not too far up the road from the majestic Thermal Valley (地熱谷) I noticed the crumbling outlines of a building that I correctly assumed was a derelict hot springs hotel: Asia Pacific Resort (北投亞太溫泉生活館).

The majestic ruins of an unknown civilization… or yet another abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou?

Having a bit of time to kill I dropped the kickstand, slung my helmet over the handlebars, and hopped over a barrier to check out what I had found. Entrance to the jagged concrete ruin I had spied from the roadside wasn’t difficult but there wasn’t anything inside—not on the ground floor at least. Was this building still under construction at the time of abandonment or was it half-demolished? I can’t say for sure—but I speculate it might have been a parking garage. (Update: this first building is actually the back of another abandoned hot springs, this one named Jiāotōng Hotel (交通大飯店). Thanks to Tim Right in the Taiwan ruins study group for the tip!)

The basement of an abandoned building in Beitou — Not much to see down here. Was this building even finished?

Through the hole in the wall — A jagged hole in the wall provides ventilation down here on the ground floor.

The building immediately to the right was far more interesting (and indeed, the rest of the photos in this post were shot there). This was more obviously a hotel, albeit one in a terrible state of decay. As with the other structure I was not entirely sure whether it was actually in use at some point (and stripped bare prior to abandonment) or if it was never completed.

The ground floor of an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou — The ground floor entrance of an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou.

Asia Pacific Resort has seen better days… but at least it isn’t any trouble to figure out what it was called.

Figuring out the name of this ruin didn’t take much effort—the discarded signboard on the stairway made it effortless. I had my doubts about whether this was actually the name of the place as the buildings I explored don’t appear in any of the reviews or promotional material I was able to turn up—including this ghostly homepage, still live at the time of publication despite having been closed for at least five years. Indeed, based on Google Street View records the main buildings appear to have been demolished prior to 2011, and the entire business only opened in 2002. Not a good run!

Up the mosquito-infested stairway of an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou

Entering an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou

Inside an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou

Stairway inside an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou

A spooky hallway in an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou

You might wonder, as I have, how these other buildings fit into the big picture. This Taiwanese blogger suggests that the resort had suspended operations to expand their business—so it seems likely to me that these buildings were never actually open to the public at any point. It is quite possible that the business simply ran out of money and had to shut down.

The office in an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou. I nearly fell through the wooden floor in this room.

I knew nothing of this at the time, of course. My experience was mainly one of wandering through the empty hallways of this crumbling ruin, doing my best to avoid the ravenous mosquitoes that had made this place home. The only untoward thing that happened was a close call with a rotten wooden floor in a room that looked much like an office. It is a good thing I habitually feel out new flooring with my foot before putting my full weight on anything otherwise I would have dropped through to the floor below!

Looking down the stairwell in an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou — Looking down the mosquito-infested stairwell, longing for the road.

The second floor of an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou — The desolate second floor of the abandoned hotel.

Back to ground level in an abandoned hot springs hotel in Beitou — Back on the ground floor at the abandoned hot springs hotel, preparing for exodus.

Beitou is one of the best places in Taipei to engage in urban exploration. This might not be the most interesting ruin I have had the pleasure of documenting but there are many more not far from where this one is found.

Warning: this location is abandoned, hazardous, or otherwise neglected and may be unsafe and even dangerous! Exercise appropriate precautions when visiting.

警告：此處已廢棄或長期無人管理，可能存在潛在危險。造訪時請務必提高警覺，並做好相關安全防護措施。